"Do you think you can stand the extra journey?" now asked Mrs. Vernon.
"I feel so strong and improved since I see what the rascals did here that I really will be better off if we go to the village than if I remained here chafing against the delay of catching them."
Mrs. Vernon knew that an unsettled mental condition was worse than actual healthy fatigue, so she agreed to drive on down to Freedom. "But it will be too late for us to return to-night!"
"Oh, you must not think of it! In fact, you must not camp here again until the convicts are taken," hastily replied Mr. Gilroy.
"I suppose we can find a good farm-house where we can board for a time,"
suggested Mrs. Vernon.
"We"ll ask the grocery man who comes up for our orders," added Julie.
By the time Hepsy was. .h.i.tched again to the buckboard, the scouts had packed some things in suitcases to take with them. Mr. Gilroy refused to recline on the spruce bed again, so he sat up between the two girls.
Hepsy was inclined to balk when she found she was wanted to drive down to Freedom; but Mrs. Vernon was most emphatic with a persuasive hickory stick, so that Hepsy decided that "discretion was the better part of stubbornness."
Once warmed up to the going, Hepsy kept on traveling at a great rate, so that the village of Freedom was seen in less than an hour"s time after leaving the camp. While Mrs. Vernon asked the keeper of the general store about hotel accommodations for all, Mr. Gilroy went to the telephone and called up the police station at Junction.
The scouts had not heard the first part of his conversation, as they were interested in hearing about rooms for the night, but when the store-keeper held up a hand for silence, they heard Mr. Gilroy say excitedly:
"Is that so! Well, I really believe I can get them for you. My name is Chester Gilroy, and my home is in New York State, but the young ladies are Girl Scouts. The Captain"s name is Mrs. Vernon, of Elmertown--the other side of this ridge, you know. And the scouts are Juliette and Elizabeth Lee, Ruth Bentley and Joan Allison."
The scouts exchanged glances with Mrs. Vernon, but they had no clue to the conversation at the other end of the wire.
"What"s that?" asked Mr. Gilroy. "Oh--yes! They lost all their food-stuff, furniture, and other things from camp, so they are compelled to stay at Freedom until the rascals are caught."
After saying "good-by" Mr. Gilroy hung up the receiver and came over to the group waiting to hear what was to be done.
The excitement and tiresome trip, followed by the sudden relaxation and satisfaction he experienced now, caused the man"s head to whirl, so that he dropped into a wooden chair for a time.
As he sat there recovering himself, he quickly planned. Then he looked up at the store-keeper.
"Mr. Grocer, I can show you an express order on a bank at Junction from my home bank in New York State. I want you to take it--not to cash, but just to prove to you that I mean business."
The scouts looked perplexed, and the store-keeper said: "What sort of business do you want to transact?"
"I want you to act as a constable for me--or get a real one, if there is one, at once. Then I want you to collect as large a posse of men as you can, and begin and search that mountainside thoroughly. Begin at an outside circle and narrow down as you reach the camp-huts. We"ve got to get those escaped convicts and hand them over to the police before we can feel safe." The canny grocer shook his head dubiously.
"If the men of Freedom round up and land two dangerous criminals, think of the story the newspapers will tell about it. Why, Freedom will be on the map in big headlines!" Mr. Gilroy was beguiling.
When Mr. Gilroy concluded, the store-keeper said: "How much do yuh kalkerlate on spendin", mister?"
"How many men can you get to go on this quest?" Mr. Gilroy countered.
"Wall--there air loungers hangin" about th" post office, in that store over thar, an" there be young fellers what"ll want to chase the convicts fer fun, an" others what will do it fer the dollars. I kin raise "bout forty er fifty, I rickon."
"Fine work! I"ll pay them $2 for every half-day they are out, with extra money for meals and night work. But the bosses will get double the money. I"ll pay you a dollar for every man you sign up."
"Signed up--what fer?" asked the suspicious grocer.
"To contract to hunt these criminals. You see, we"ve got to do the thing business-like, and once they start out they might work a whole day or two, and be ent.i.tled to honest pay. But others who never moved may come in at pay-time and claim money for nothing. I"ve got to have the signatures of my men so that I know who I am paying, see?"
The old grocer felt satisfied with the explanation, and said: "I know the constabule pritty well, and he"ll "tend to the posse if I divide even. He knows the best men to send on a job like this. I"ll be satisfied with half, if I get my picksher in a New York news-paper. I allers wanted to do that afore I die!"
Mrs. Vernon could not refrain from smiling at such a desire and ideal, but the scouts laughed outright. Mr. Gilroy said: "Youth laughs because it does not believe in death."
"When do ye want "em to start?" queried the grocer eagerly.
"As soon as you can possibly get them off. Those convicts may escape from the mountainside in another twenty-four hours."
"I"ll git Lem on the telerphone now, and start him off. He"s our constabule, ye know, and a lively one, tew."
Soon after this, Lemuel Saunders called to see Mr. Gilroy. "Ef yuh will step over to my office, I"ve got a line o" men waitin" to sign up."
The scouts wanted to watch the rest of this exciting plan, so Mrs.
Vernon accompanied them to the constable"s room behind the Post-Office General Store.
Mr. Gilroy hastily wrote upon a sheet of fool"s-cap paper, then handed it to Mr. Saunders to be signed by the applicants. A long line filed in, and, signing, went out again. To each man one dollar was paid in advance for a meal, and advice given as to taking guns, clubs and other weapons with them.
The spirit of adventure, added to a good financial return, had attracted every one in the village, so that wives and mothers had packed up hearty lunches, and seen to it that the hunters were provided with firearms or cudgels for defense.
Scarcely a man or grown boy could be found in town who had not agreed to go out and hunt the felons for Mr. Gilroy. Before sundown that evening the village was left without a man in it. But here and there on the great mountainside twinkling lights could be seen, as the posse moved carefully upwards towards the camp.
The following morning found Mr. Gilroy feeling rested and eager to follow the villagers in their search for the outlaws. But the doctor who had sewed up the gash in his head advised the patient to rest all that day.
The girls made a great fuss over their sick guest--or at least they insisted upon calling him sick in spite of his protests to the contrary--and promised the physician that they would take every precaution to keep Mr. Gilroy quiet.
But they had no idea of how their promise was to be tested. They were soon to know, however.
On the first train that stopped at Freedom came the Chief of Police and a number of his officers from Junction, to capture the two escaped convicts. They went straight to Mr. Gilroy to learn all the facts from him, and having taken down his statement they spoke of securing horses, or a car, to take them up the mountainside.
"I hired all the horses and vehicles to be had in Freedom," explained Mr. Gilroy, "but I will gladly turn over the auto to you, providing you take me with you on this trip."
"Why! You can"t leave this porch, Mr. Gilroy," exclaimed Julie.
"The doctor said we were to keep you very quiet," added Joan.
"But that was more than an hour ago; I am quite recovered now, my dears," laughed Mr. Gilroy.
"That makes no difference with us--we were ordered to see that you kept quiet," declared Ruth.
"I can keep just as quiet while riding in the car with the Chief as if I sat on this chair," argued Mr. Gilroy.
"Impossible! The excitement of the chase will give you a fever," said Julie, emphatically.
"Why, they are two poor convicts who are most likely in chains by this time. Our posse has captured them long before this, and all I have to do is to pay off my men," explained the stubborn patient.
"Well, you"ll find they are not quite tame, or as easy to secure, as you fancy," ventured the Chief. "One of those rascals is a member of that gang that tried to bomb New York City recently. And the other one is a leader of a group of "Reds" that the secret police rounded up lately.
Both, being aliens, were kept in jail until they could be deported. But they managed to make their escape."